Memorias Construidas
By Vanessa Argueta
My work explores translation, transformation, personal memories, and the creation of fragmentary states of being through the reverence for colors and shapes found in Mola textiles made by the Kuna women native to Guna Yala, Panama. The mola is a product of acculturation, the balancing of two cultures while assimilating to the prevailing culture of the society, and continues to exist because of tribal tradition. These textiles could have never developed without the cotton cloth, needles, thread, and scissors acquired by trade from ships that came to barter for coconuts during the 19th century.
The materials I am attracted to using in my work have vibrant, vivid colors and bold, graphic prints reminiscent of the Mola textiles that also consist of acquired commercial fabrics. The coming together of many different materials is an integral part of my work. Not only because the materials I work with are in limited quantities but also because this process is reflective of my upbringing in Miami, where I was surrounded by a variety of cultures and people living together.
My process involves searching for and using found and discarded fabrics, deconstructing them, and then reassembling them into new compositions using quilting and sewing techniques. I feel that these found fabrics have more life and history attached to them; they have made journeys, been passed through different hands, have been ripped or cut but still have the potential to come together and be brought back into a new form.
In addition to sewing, my practice also involves transferring my handmade works into digital programs to further alter and reassemble them. I then experiment with printing them onto different substrates including fabrics and paper. This process of transferring and translating different mediums onto one another obscures the material’s original form. I also use this way of making to preserve, convey, and explore my experience as a first-generation American with origins that through time have and will continue to become less clear.
